Bullying can include a wide range of behaviours. Physical bullying may be more present during the elementary school years, while more covert forms such as social and cyber-bullying can take precedence during high school. Bullying is repeated and targeted aggression and does not need to be physical in order to be hurtful.
Below, we provide some concrete examples of what various types of bullying can look like. These are to help caring adults identify different types of bullying when they occur, and feel prepared to intervene. When teaching children about bullying, we do not recommend providing numerous examples, as research suggests that this can have negative effects (i.e., teaching children how to bully). You can learn more about how to talk to children and youth about bullying by taking our Identity-Based Bullying Online Training for Educators, checking out our Resources of Educators, or reading our Bullying for Parents and Caregivers page.
Physical Bullying
Includes things like hitting/striking, spitting, stealing or damaging property.
Verbal Bullying
Includes things like name-calling, mocking, hurtful teasing, insults, slurs, humiliating or threatening someone, or sexual harassment.
Social Bullying
Includes rolling your eyes or turning away from someone, excluding others from the group, getting others to ignore or exclude, gossiping or spreading rumours, setting others up to look foolish, and damaging reputations and friendships.
Sexual Bullying
Includes leaving someone out; treating them badly, or making them feel uncomfortable because of their sex; making sexist comments or jokes; touching, pinching or grabbing someone in a sexual way; making crude comments about someone’s sexual behaviour or orientation; or spreading a sexual rumour.
Electronic or Cyberbullying
Includes the use of email, cell phones, text messages, and internet sites to threaten, harass, embarrass, socially exclude, or damage reputations and friendships.
Identity-Based Bullying
When a person is bullied about aspects of their real or perceived social identities (e.g., gender, sexual identity, race, ethnicity, body size, religion, disability, immigration status). This can include all of the different bullying behaviours listed above. Identity-based bullying is particularly harmful, because it can cause those who are bullied to feel like parts of their self are devalued or not accepted by others.
Now that you know more about the types of bullying, we recommend learning about the different signs of bullying to look out for.
